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The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, February 15, 1914, FOURTH SECTION PICTORIAL MAGAZINE, Image 29

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1914-02-15/ed-1/seq-29/

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NEW YORK, SUNDAY. FEBRUARY 15,
I'OURTH
SECTION
SIXTEEN
PAGES
THE
DRUG TE
R-ROR
PICTORIAL
MAGAZINE
Cnpiiriilhl, 1M I. hi) the
Sun I 'mi 1 1 ii a mill
I'ulillxhiiiil X.snirinlloit.
V
. " ". ilk ' ; '
- -
DOPE i
A dupe fiend cooking
his meal.
Drug dealers have
grown prosperous
on this type.
With Practically
Unrest ricted
Traffic Cocaine
Vice Has Grown
So Swiftly That
We Are Most
Drugged Nation in
World With 4.45
Per Cent, of Popu
lar on Addicted to
Habit
Hitting the Pipe."
Tons of opium im
ported for "medicinal
purposes" are used
for this purpose.
Campaign Under
taken by Mrs. Will
iam K. Vanderbilt,
Sr., for Extermina
tion of Practice One
of the Greatest
Moral Struggles in
History Cocaine
and Heroin Dead-
?k lies t of Habit Form
n . : r
ON'K morning in January a woman undertook
ono of the greatest moral struggles in his
tory. Quietly announcement was made from
2 Rccir street that MrH. William K. Vanderbilt had
pliio i ,i m-nerous nurn of money at the disjosal
of t-i K Coulter and a staff of investigators to
ue 1 'ui- campaign for the extermination of drug
adili' 'mil not only in the city and State of New York
but 'l.ioughout the United States.
So swiftly has this vice grown that tho United
States -iiis distanced every other nation in tho world
in tin Imu j,er capita of its illegitimate drug con
mip .in The commerce in cocaine, heroin, mor
pliiin im opium now approximates the opium traffic
of i 'n n China history's most notorious example
of .i I, -god nation when after 200 years of its com-
opiurn 0.5 per cent, of China's population
id to be opium smokers. With tho aid of
,y every civilized nation in tho world China
v reduced that figure to 4.1 per cent., while
d States twenty years of practically un
. traffic in drugs has made drug addicts
'ent. of tho population.
v ii the United States tho scene of tho
' .itest drug traffic but cocaino and heroin,
..' t invito use is peculiar to Americans, are
-,ie deadliest of tho world's I abit forming
''' morphine victim would experi nco no
1 I'ever from the daily drug do s of tho
riian e ca chewer, the AraVan hasheesh
Chinese opium smoker. But a morphine
live twenty years and do hii work, whilo
an eocaiii" addict turns cr'minal nnd
years.
mT
Wen
pr.li .
Ids H,
in t'.
rest -,.
Of 1 f
Nr.
WO) , '
Wlir.
amoi .
!nn."
rcsii!' m
South
flier o-
arid- t
tlln -
Jic-
No other vieo renders its victim so dangerous.
Opium, morphine und hasheesh pond their viutims
searching fo solitude, but u sniff of cocaine after
lifting Its victim into a half hour's losy overestima
tion drops him into tho streets and alleys in a state
of dangerous melancholia. So brief is the drug's
effect that it ta' es from i to $! u day to satisfy a
cocaine addict more nion y lian any other" drug
addiction exacts, That's why "coke" produces more
criminals in the city of New York than any other
single cause.
No other country in tho world knows the cocaine
habit. "Cocaine addiction is an American habit,"
says Dr. Charles U. Towns of 110 West Kighty-first
street, a recognized authority. "It is tho result of
our high pressure of living, our craving for over
stimulation, our proiienoss to 'take something' when
wo don't feel well. I have never known an Italian, a
Hungarian, a Itussiau, a Pole and only a few Jews
(except in the underworld) who took drugs."
"Cocaine addiction is the easiest habit to acquire
and the hudest to cure," say- Dr. PoiNtata, a Chi
engo drug expert. "Nothitur so iii kly deteriorate
its victim or provides o short a cut to the in-ano
asylum," says Dr. Towns, liccnu-c it takes such a
liiick, deadly grip of its victim then- ate some physi
cians who refuse to ndmini-tcr any cocaine what
ever', even ill legitimate medical piuctiee , Yet any
crook can bring a carload of cocaine fiom Philadel
phia into New York city, and the Interstate Com
merce Commirsion is owerless to interfere.
Notwithstanding its vitiating effects the growth
of cocaine add.etiou is indicated by the i:tc, easing
import into the United States of coca leaves, the
only source of cocaine and tin product of a shrub
which cannot be grown here. According to t e
American Pharmaceutical Association the oca iri
Iort from l.S'JS to 11102 inclusive was valued at fM.'.'l 1,
from lWO to 1007, inclusive, $1.11111 liini. The ;r - it
annual cousin ptiou of cocaine i L'nn.nno u ce-. , ,
which 02 per cent, is used illegitimately ior 1 ve.y
man, woman and child in the United State-, a s '.'
of cocaino sufficiently strong to kill -evera! m d.i"
Its enormous profit explains the growth of t'.e
cocaine business. An ounce of cocaine, wholes... ,
costs about $1. Divided into pink pill boxes 111, d I
bottles the ounce is sold without adulteration l"r
from $20 to to tho-e who use the needle and ki on
tho difference. Adulterated heavily wit iicetani'..!
it is sold to "sniffers" lor from J into $v 1 ounce and
half crazed fiends on the verge of the "1 u nine leap-"
can be made to yield even gi eater piolit. Thus
profits ranging from .VX) to i,.VM per cent, on the
investment have entrenched the cocaine business
011 a nationwide scale.
Hut there arc politer methods of getting cocaino

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